Using structural alignment to facilitate learning of spatial concepts in an informal setting

Dedre Gentner, Susan C. Levine, Sonica Dhillon, Ashley Poltermann

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

We tested whether analogical processes can be harnessed to help children learn in a complex, naturalistic learning situation. Specifically, we asked whether a brief analogical training experience could help children learn a key principle of stable construction—namely, the idea of using a diagonal brace to stabilize a structure. The context for this learning was a free construction activity in the Chicago Children’s Museum, in which children and their families built a model skyscraper together. The results indicate that even a single brief analogical comparison can confer insight, and add to evidence that structural alignability processes underlie analogical comparison.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Second International Conference on Analogy
EditorsBoicho Kokinov, Keith Holyoak, Dedre Gentner
PublisherNBU Press
Pages175-182
Number of pages8
ISBN (Print)978-954-535-580-6 
StatePublished - 2009

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